Angry Birds Hits 30 Million Downloads on Android

This may not come as a surprise but the Angry Birds franchise has hit another milestone. A few months after hitting the 7 million mark on Android, the popular mobile game has now surpassed 30 million downloads. The free-to-play model seems to be working well for Rovio.

Back in October of last year Angry Birds was unleashed unto to the Android marketplace, much the delight of Android users who were envious of their iPhone counterparts. Not only did they get the wildly popular mobile game, but they also got it for free. The Android version is ad supported and has proven to be very profitable for the Finnish developer.

While speaking on a panel at GDC, Rovio CEO Peter Vesterbacka spoke about how not only have 30 million people downloaded the title, but 80% percent of them continue to play after the initial download. Players who enjoyed the game the first time around often come back when there’s a new update.

Rovio has built a mini empire with the Angry Birds franchise, and the empire is rapidly expanding. Angry Birds is almost available on every gaming platform and it will be making its way to the 3DS when it launches. Rovio is also expanding into movie licenses with Angry Birds Rio. While Rovio will probably stick to movie properties that involve birds, it would be interesting to see a Transformers or X-Men version of Angry Birds.

What movie tie-ins would you like to see Rovio implement in future Angry Birds updates? Are you going to be one of the many who will return once the St. Patrick’s Day update goes live?